Bannatyne tried to reassure employees last year that their jobs would not be at risk because of the split, but that situation at the Bannatyne Group now looks to have changed although the business insisted that it was not all doom and gloom.

A spokesperson for the Group told The Huffington Post UK: “A handful of redundancies were confined to the new projects team as Duncan consolidates the business in line with the cost of the divorce and market conditions.

"However, investment continues in order to grow established business streams and key performance areas including the call centre operation in Darlington.”